THE GRAND FINALE, Corporate Services Corp (CSC) Senegal

The day of Nov 2, 2018 will remain in my mind as well for my fellow colleagues as it was the day of closing ceremony of our Corporate Services Corp (CSC) program at Terrou-Bi Hotel, Dakar.

Fifteen members from 12 different countries worked on Five different projects across Government departments. Each team along with the host organisation had an opportunity to present the final recommendation from the 4 weeks effort. 

In the pre-final on Oct 31, subteam 2 (Prasanna Darog, Jana Vincencova and Alexandra Eckman) presented, talking through on the recommendations to Thirteen delegates of different functions from ONAS (National Office of Sanitation of Senegal). This became a rehearsal to the closing ceremony. 

The objective of our project was to reduce electricity expenses for ONAS by using various methods and sources of energy. It was interesting to see that based on the last Fourteen months of data and by changing the subscription load or applying different factors, ONAS could straight get up to 40% savings.  One other recommendation was to implement Solar system for small stations/plant and this would give ONAS 12.5% average savings per year over a period of 8 years. Implementation of IT across ONAS was also proposed helping them to reduce operational and maintenance costs. 

The above recommendations were received by the team of ONAS delegates very positively and they wanted to implement sooner than later. 

Having received positive signals from ONAS team, recommendations were presented in the closing ceremony with the Managing Director, Mr. Lansana Gagny SAKHO of ONAS participating in the program. He received them very positively thanking the team for the work within the short duration. He requested the Technical team to look into and implement the recommendations (that do not involve any additional funding) thus leading to savings. For recommendations that need additional funding, he would work with various organization & bodies that could extend grant in supporting the project work. 

All of these recommendations have an impact on community/consumers in one way or the other, in line with ONAS organization strategy and long term vision. 

We had a photo shoot session at the end of closing ceremony with all IBM Consultants, Host organization delegates and IBM Leadership team. Each appreciating the efforts of the other, not to miss with few emotional moments. 

It has been an enriching experience personally and professionally for the Fifteen IBM Consultants. A new family with varied background, culture and way of thinking…..